


It was a Quiet Day

by ani_bester



Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Comedy, Community: capkink, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-19
Updated: 2011-09-19
Packaged: 2017-10-23 20:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ani_bester/pseuds/ani_bester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky knows something is up, and knows it's got to do with him, but he isn't sure what, and probably would have been happier never knowing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It was a Quiet Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was an answer to a GEN prompt on . The prompter wanted a story about The Howling Commandos seeing Bucky portrayed as a little kid in the Captain America comic. Edited for posting. Also, In the Comic book prequel to the movie First Vengeance: Dugan keeps insisting on calling Bucky Jim or Jimmy until Bucky gets angry and corrects him.

Bucky had suspected something was going on since the Howling Commandos had returned from their too short leave. But now, as he walked past Dugan, Morita, and Jones, he was sure of it. When he muttered a quick good morning to them, Dugan looked up from sharpening his knife, Morita peeked up from the book he was reading, and Jones stopped making notes in their code book. They glanced at each and their expressions switched from the blank look of boredom that each wore as they awaited a new mission into the painful contortions of people holding back gales of laughter.

Bucky tried to ignore it the way he ignored the biting cold of the European winter, but as he felt their mocking gazes burning into his back he narrowed his eyes and decided to take a quick detour on his way to see Steve.  
Bucky jogged over to where the three men were sitting and planted himself in front of them. He made eye contact with each man before folding his arms across his chest and raising his eyebrows in mock curiosity. "I got something on my face, fellas?" he asked.

They gave him looks of pure innocence, "Naw, we're used to your ugly mug by now, Barnes," Jones said with a smirk.

Morita leaned closer to Jones. "But you gotta admit, he is sorta baby faced."

Dugan pulled his cigar from his mouth and grinned up at Bucky as though Bucky were a clown in a circus. "Really, it's all his fault. Grown man calling himself "Bucky", rather than Jim like any other respectable adult, what else could they do with that?"

Bucky pushed up his sleeves at went over to Dugan. "Maybe you stand up and I can make you respect the name," he challenged. With a smile like the cat about to get the canary, Dugan handed his bowler to Morita and began pushing up his own sleeves.

He and Bucky were sizing each other up for some friendly fistacuffs when a yell from Steve ended the fight before it began.

"I still need those maps, Buck!"

Bucky rolled his eyes and then pointed at Dugan. "You got lucky," Bucky said, with a smug grin and a rude gesture.

Morita tossed Dugan's hat back and Dugan caught it easily. "Ahh, I don' beat up kids anyway," he said, causing the other commandos to start snorting in laughter.

Bucky wasted another few seconds on futile glaring.

"Bucky! Maps!"

"Better hurry, sidekick!" Jones yelled.  
Bucky gathered every ounce of restraint he owned, turned his back to Jones and jogged over to Steve.

 

"Ain't much changed," Bucky drawled around a cigarette. He had been going over these maps for nearly 30 minutes with Steve now and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what was taking Steve so long. The maps weren't anything special, but Steve kept insisting on looking at them.

Glancing at his watch for a moment, Steve finally nodded in agreement. "Looks like they're keeping the same routes, question is why?"

"I'm gonna go with because it's a trap," Bucky commented. He shook his head because that should have gone without saying. "Why else dangle so much in front of us? They gotta know we can't pass this opportunity up."

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "When the rest of the team gets back we'll all go over an attack plan. Phillips wants those futuristic tanks taken down and shipped to Stark, but I agree with you. This looks an awful lot like a carrot dangled in front of us."  
Bucky rolled his eyes and tried hard not to bury his face in his hands. The winter wind had picked up and he and Steve were standing outside, exposed to it, while Steve stared at a map and some intel that really wasn't that hard to work out and kept repeating variations of the same conclusion. Bucky glanced up at Steve, wondering what his problem was this morning. His mind wondered from Steve's odd behavior and over to the other commandos as well.

"So, what do you think?" The direct question snapped Bucky back to attention and he stared at Steve a moment, realizing he'd stopped listening to Steve and begun going over the odd actions of the others commandos.

"Sorry, what?" Bucky asked.

Steve grinned and patted Bucky on the shoulder. "You gotta stop thinking about Peggy that way, pal. She said no."

Bucky gave Steve a friendly punch in the arm. "Awww C'mon Stevie, I wouldn't get between you and the first gal who ever liked you. What kinda jerk do you take me for?"  
"The opportunistic kind," Steve answered, but his barb was blunted by the fact that he had turned several shades of red at Bucky's response. "So what was the distraction, Bucky?" Steve asked.  
Bucky raised his eyebrows and almost asked Steve what his problem was, but then shoved the question aside for later.  
"The fellas have been… odd around me lately. Steve, did I do something odd? Ask for a blankie in my sleep? Cry for my mom? Because I'm getting an awful lot of little kid jokes. Sure, Dum Dum's always been on me for going by Bucky rather than Jim, but this is something -"

Bucky broke off as Steve's face went from red to white. "You know what it is, don't even say you don't Rogers!" Bucky accused.

"I swear to god, Bucky, I did everything I could to protest."

"Protest -protest what," he asked.

Steve, looking like a whipped puppy, walked with his head down over to his sack and retrieved something from it. Bucky craned his neck to see, but didn't get a good glimpse until Steve handed the item to him. Bucky found himself staring at the cover of a funny book with....

"What the hell!" he choked out. "This- this ... they mean this to be me?" Bucky glared up at Steve. He tight lipped glared demanded an explanation, and a good one, for why there was a little boy named "Bucky" in this comic being portrayed as Captain America's "sidekick."  
"The brass thought it would inspire the kids more if you were younger. I swear I argued your case, Bucky, but they're sticking to their guns on this. But umm, well the fellas, they all saw this a few weeks ago when we had that leave. This is Dugan's copy, actually."

From across the way there were whoops of laughter. "Read the second issues Barnes! You are so cute! And Steve makes a great nannna for you."

Bucky closed his eyes and counted to ten.

"You drew this, right Steve? It's a joke?" He heard a note of pleading in his voice, but didn't much care how he sounded, so long as Steve said yes.

However, Steve muttered no along with more apologies, which Bucky at first thought were again for the comic, but then heard something that broke through his growing anger like a blaring alarm.

"Wait! What do you mean 'sorry for what is about to-"

Bucky's question was cut short. Dugan grabbed him by his shirt and spun him around to face all of the Howling Commandos, all of them grinning like hyenas who'd found easy prey.

"Fellas," Steve said. "I hope I kept him long enough."

"Oh that you did," Dugan said as Jones grabbed hold of Bucky's arms.

Bucky struggled in the grip of Dugan and Jones. "What the hell, fellas?" he demanded. "This was a set up?" He turned to look at Steve. Steve smiled and shrugged.

"They assumed you wouldn't suspect me."

"And we were right." Jones said. "We got a surprise for you. Took you long enough to see that comic by the way."

"You got it, Jacques?" Jones asked in French.

Grinning like a maniac, Dernier came forward with some clothing and held the outfit up. Bucky stared bug eyed at them and didn't struggle until he felt Falsworth unbuttoning his shirt.

"No," he shouted and exploded in movement, thrashing wildly to try and get away. When Bucky managed to get loose from Falsworth, Steve grabbed him and held him in place.

"You traitor!" Bucky yelled. He struggled against Steve but he might as well have fought solid rock.

"You should have been nicer about my USO gig," Steve said simply as he maneuvered Bucky so the others could strip him down to his socks and underwear.

"This means war, you all realize this," Bucky threatened as the outfit was brought forth.

"It's worth it, Bucky-boy," Dugan chortled as he and the others struggled to get the clothing on Bucky.

A few moments later Bucky stood seething, still held by Steve.

"Good look," Dernier said in accented English, followed by even more comments in French that caused Jones to double over laughing.

"Laugh it up!" Bucky snarled.

Bucky's threat only caused everyone, even Steve, to laugh harder. And he couldn't blame them. He couldn't imagine he looked remotely threatening as he stood there in military pants that had been cut and hemmed into shortpants and with his socks yanked and stretched until they resembled knee socks. His jacket was still military, but the effect of it over the shorts made Bucky look like a young boy pretending to be a soldier. The red rouge that had been "borrowed" and then liberally put onto Bucky's cheeks made it things even worse for him, but better for everyone else.

"It needs something though...." Falsworth muttered. Then he gave Bucky a wicked grin and produced a red ribbon, which he proceeded to wrapped around Bucky's neck tie it into a bow.

"There," he said with a triumphant flourish of his hands.

"See if I give ANY of you jerks cover fire ever again!" Bucky snarled, straining against Steve's grip.

"He's so cute when he's angry," Dugan said. Morita chortled, and even Steve couldn't help but chuckle once again.

"It is... it's a look Bucky that's for sure," Steve said. He ruffled Bucky's hair, earning himself a glare that would have frozen most Hydra trooper in mid step.

"And all the times I protected you in the alleys thinking you were a good guy." The corners of his mouth began to twitch though as even he couldn't help but see the humor of it all.

"Payback for the USO jokes," Steve reminded him. "Now hold still and smile for the camera."

"Camera!" Bucky shouted in alarm. "Hey wait, no!" he protested even as the flash went off.

 

Steve sat alone amongst the remaining rubble of the bar that had once been a favorite spot of the Howling Commandos. In one hand, he held a near empty bottle of whisky. In the other he held a photograph.

He ran his finger over one of the deep creases that led up to Bucky's face. Bucky's mouth was opened wide as he'd shouted profanity, but his brown eyes were laughing along with the rest of his team.

Steve folded the photo, and tucked it back into his pocket. Then, he drained the whisky bottle and tossed it onto the ground to lie in pieces with the other ten.

As he listened to the glass shatter, Steve wished again that the whiskey would do something to kill the stinging in his eyes.


End file.
